The invention relates to a cable connector having an insulation body and having a plurality of electrical contact tracks which are fixed in the insulation body. Each contact track has an end on the plug side, which is designed as a contact element for producing an electrical contact with a mating connector, and has an opposite end, which is designed as a solder connection for a cable conductor.
Such plug connectors have also been disclosed and are of interest, in particular, in the context of the standardized USB (Universal Serial Bus) concept which is the aim of a number of computer manufacturers. This new bus system relates in principle to the connections of peripherals to a PC no longer being carried out, as in the past, via individual parallel connections with separate and frequently different connector systems, but by the peripherals essentially being connected in serial to a common bus line which is directly connected to a printed circuit board (motherboard) in the PC via a standardized plug socket on the housing of the PC. The plug face of the printed circuit board plug socket or receptacle has essentially already been defined by a specification and has four contact springs which are located in a plane alongside one another, are in the form of a strip and, when the bus plug is inserted, interact and produce the electrical contact with the four contact rails or tracks which are arranged in the plug and are located alongside one another. The contact springs are arranged in the female connector in an insulation body which essentially has a plastic tongue having a rectangular cross-section, and are bent in their rear region to form connecting legs which point away downwards and can be inserted into contact holes in the printed circuit board. The connector and mating connector are normally provided with a metallic screening housing. Two latching hooks are provided in each case in the top region and bottom region of these screening plates, engage in cutouts on the screening housing of the matching mating connector, and produce the retaining forces when the plug is withdrawn and the earthing contact.
The solder connections of the previous cable connectors are normally designed as flat sheet-metal elements which project out of the insulation body and are accordingly essentially not touched or supported by the insulation body. This known solution has both design and thermal disadvantages.